Of Milk, Poop and Diaper Rashes

Let me start by screaming this from my little soap box… I DID IT! Sam is officially weaned. Yes, after hemming and hawing over this since March of this year, I finally did it. I have had many stops and starts, but this time, I stuck to my guns. Yes, it helped that my guns were a thousand or so miles away on vacation, but when I returned, I didn’t cave. Yes Sam looked at me with his big blue eyes, grabbed at my boobs and with a tear in his eye begged for “nite-nite”. I shook my head, told him no more “nite-nite”. And then Sam just accepted it.

Not really.

He proceeded to scream in my face while clawing at my shirt for the next ten minutes. But I didn’t cave. I held strong and rocked him till he calmed down. We had to repeat this process a number of times over the next four days, but his screaming at the top of his lungs went from ten minutes, to 8 minutes, to five minutes to not at all.

So, I think it is safe to say that Sam is officially weaned. Now, if only my boobs would stop producing milk I would be set.

Of course, Sam not nursing has come with a new set of challenges. It seems that Sam hates milk. Well, he hates milk if my parents, Peter, myself or one of the nanny’s tries to give it to him. If Lupta (the worlds greatest nanny) or Lupita’s daughter, Rosa, offers Sam a bottle, he takes it and drinks it without batting an eye. For the rest of us, he just pushes it away and says “all done”. We have tried giving him milk in a bottle, a sippy cup, a straw cup, and a regular cup. We have tried unsweetened almond milk (which he drinks for Lupita and Rosa), sweetened almond milk, vanilla almond milk, and even cows milk. Nothing works. He just takes one small sip, lets is dribble down his chin and runs away saying all done.

I am at a loss.

Compounding the issue (because you knew there had to be something) is the fact that Sam now doesn’t drink enough liquids. And not drinking enough liquids is leading to terrible constipation. It has been almost 7 days since Sam has pooped. I can feel all the poop that is in his poor little belly. He has had Miralx, flax, prunes, cranberries, suppositories and every type of aide I can think of… and nothing. He strains and pushes and cries and maybe a little rabbit poop comes out. Tonight, I am breaking down and giving Sam an enema…. just out of the hope that we can give him some relief.

Of course, all his pushing and straining (and suppositories) has led to the worst diaper rash I have ever seen. Poor little guy is so miserable he just screams and can’t sleep (which of course means I am not sleeping either).

So, I ask… no I beg of you my readers… any suggestions for how to get Sam to drink milk and also how to clear up his massive constipation and diaper rash?

Sheri – I wish I could say that all of these issues are resolved. Well, the diaper rash has been resolved, but the others are a constant battle. We have Sam on Miralax every other day, and that seems to do the trick. He also gets a probiotic and flax seed. I have noticed if I stop the Miralax or try to go longer between doses, Sam clogs up right away. As for milk… we are no on day 9 without a drop of milk passing Sam’s lips. I am still at a total loss. He will drink milk for one of his nannys, but not the other. I have yet to figure out the trick and am still looking for advice. He is just so darned stubborn!

I am not a doctor, just a mom with a lot of experience on allergies and two little ones that were born early. My oldest was born at almost 36 weeks and my youngest was born at 33 weeks. Not micro preemie’s like your little man, but too early and not without our own complications. I will be honest, all medical literature I have found points to no coorelation between preemies and allergies. But, thanks to other blogging mommy’s- it seems this is something many (no, not all) of us share. So, here are some things we have tried:
* we use hemp milk (vanilla)- this has been an honest amazing find! I swear by this and call it liquid gold! It has a lot of healthy fats in it and it does help tremendously with getting weight on little ones that are too tiny.
* we have always laughed and said we feel like mad scientist in the kitchen with our children’s bowel issues… at this time we still are always trying to strick a balance for them. It seems for our little ones apple juice is the very best dose of medicine possible!
* when he is constipated, hold the applesauce/apples, rice, toasts, and bananas from his diet! These are all constipating.
* I know, your thinking- but you said apple juice is the cure, but not applesauce or apples???? Confusing, I know! But, the pectin in apple juice is different than pure apples or applesauce.
* Try him on a dairy free diet for about 3 weeks (it takes two weeksd to get his body rid of all dairy in it now). Perhaps his refusal to drink it regularly is because it honestly hurts his tummy.

Does ANY of this help!?! Please, let me know. We mommy’s can put our heads together and figure it out!

So sorry for the delayed response. I really appreciated your insights and advice… i just got slammed with the stomach flu and then became overwhelmed with all the new therapies in Sam and my life.

I am beginning to think Sam may have some allergies. This isn’t based on anything other than my gut (haha). I am planning on taking him back to a GI doc to be looked at because the constipation issue is getting worse and I am running out of ideas.

Sam has never been a cow milk kid. Since he went from breast milk to any other liquid it has been unsweetened almond milk. I have actually been toying with trying hemp milk for him. Nice to hear another recommendation for it. Sam was never very responsive to prune or apple juice… but pear juice has always worked. As much as Sam would like a banana a day… he is lucky if he gets on a month. I swear, he looks at a banana and he becomes constipated.

I love all the ideas – and hope you keep them coming. Sometimes other moms are the best doctors out there!